In recent years, pilots have increasingly reported UFO sightings during their flights. This trend was worried about the military and officials, who launched another project to study atmospheric phenomena. We tell you whether he will repeat the mistakes of the recently closed AATIP program, on which the Pentagon has spent tens of millions of dollars.
New "Blue Book"
Under the new US Navy policy, pilots and personnel are required to report any sightings of unexplained atmospheric phenomena. The decision to pay more attention to aerial phenomena was made after an increase in the number of military pilots reporting UFOs and unidentified vehicles over the territory of the country. A special reporting form was developed, which would allow systematizing observations and investigating each of the cases. Instead of the abbreviation UFO (UFO), the documents will use another one - UFO or "unexplained aerial phenomenon" (UAP).
Between 2014 and 2015, pilots reported new sightings of strange phenomena during training flights along the southeast coast of the United States. Onboard equipment, including cameras and radars, recorded objects that moved at hypersonic speeds at an altitude of up to nine thousand meters. At the same time, there were no signs of working jet engines such as exhaust lanes.
According to one of the pilots, none of the objects had wings or a tail. At the same time, UFOs behaved as if they were controlled by someone. They circled the planes and looked like a small white spot and a large dark ball. They later received the nicknames "Go Fast" and "Gimbal". The pilots were surprised that the presence of objects was recorded not by one sensor, which could be mistaken for a device breakdown, but by several at once. However, they did not seriously consider the version that these could be alien ships.
According to the pilots, the strange phenomenon could be part of a secret program to develop drones based on unknown technologies. They are also concerned that UFOs, judging by their "behavior", could pose a threat to their comrades and national security. It was the latter circumstance that made the officials again seriously think about the problem of anomalous air phenomena. Messages from pilots confronted with the unexplained will be classified and not available to the general public.
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Past mistakes
We already wrote that until 2012, the Pentagon supported the Advanced Aviation Threat Identification Program (AATIP), which, in particular, investigated UFO incidents. Program leaders allegedly claimed they had proof of aliens. Until 2011, AATIP was headed by Luis Elizondo. And, as it became known from his recent interview with The New York Times, UFOs were not really identified with aliens within the project. Elizondo left due to the fact that the alarming conclusions reached by the AATIP specialists were ignored, and no one wanted to take into account the potential risks from UFOs.
Elizondo hopes that the problem of unexplained aerial phenomena, which can pose a significant threat, will be openly discussed, and numerous witnesses will not be stigmatized. He does not believe that UFOs have anything to do with aliens. However, their physical characteristics are much higher than those of known aircraft. Descriptions of UFO encounters that were made during Elizondo's tenure as head of the AATIP described a speed of five times the speed of sound, and the g-forces to which hypothetical pilots (400-500 G) were to be subjected to far exceeding the maximum endurance of humans (9 G) and the aircraft themselves (16-18 G).
Photo of probably a fake UFO taken in Brazil in 1969. The subject appears to be more distinct than the crown of the trees, hinting at its small size and close proximity to the photographer.
Some UFOs were subsequently identified as drones or test launches of a new type of missile, seen from an unusual angle. However, there remains a fairly large share of unexplained phenomena that, in the case of their artificial terrestrial origin, change the rules of military-strategic planning in an unprecedented way. Elizondo also opposes the secrecy surrounding UFOs, which contributes to the spread of alien myths. “We let the American people know that North Korean nuclear warheads are directed at Los Angeles, but we do not trust him when it comes to the fact that there is something in our skies, and we do not know what it is. This is counterproductive,”says the former head of AATIP.
Aliens are to blame
Indeed, the main problem associated with anomalous air phenomena is that in the minds of people the very concept of a UFO is certainly associated with alien ships, although a UFO is only an "unidentified flying object" and nothing more. This distorted view is spread by the media and ufologists, who are ready to dub any strange phenomenon a flying saucer. As a result, more or less serious specialists concentrate their attention on refuting the connection between UFOs and aliens, forgetting about other possibilities.
For example, Tyler Cowen, professor of economics at George Mason University and columnist for Bloomberg, tries to interpret various UFO sightings and estimates how likely it is that these are alien ships visiting Earth. He concludes that the likelihood of this is very low, but not zero, which means that atmospheric phenomena deserve study.
Photo of unidentified night lights in Texas. A number of experts believe that this is a flock of birds that were illuminated by the lights of the night city.
However, as skeptic and neuroscientist Stephen Novella writes on his blog, this is a flawed approach. Basically, Cowan (and many others) take a phenomenon that has many different causes (studied and unexplored) and focus on the least likely unexplored cause. It is like describing a new clinical symptom based on the least probable disease that can cause it. It limits thinking, fuels conspiracy theories and myths.
The public's desire to explain unexplored phenomena by the activity of extraterrestrials (or supernatural forces) is reflected in astronomy. For example, the strange change in brightness of Tabby's star or the anomalous acceleration of the interstellar asteroid Oumuamua have received media attention thanks to the least likely hypotheses explaining their behavior. In the first case, these are artificial megastructures, in the second - an alien space sail. However, in each case, astronomers found a more natural and less interesting explanation.
Possible clues
Over the past 70 years, the number of sightings of unidentified objects has increased dramatically - due to the launch of new satellites, airplanes, balloons and other aircraft. People are increasingly unable to identify them with something familiar. Therefore, the increase in the number of pilots encountering UFOs may be a symptom of some new technology being launched into the sky. The question is whether we already know about this technology or whether it is testing something unknown. Alternatively, it could be drones, whose presence in the sky has increased recently.
There are several main reasons why UFO studies can be beneficial. First, we can determine the neurological and psychological reasons for the erroneous perception of a given phenomenon. Pilots should be aware of the ways in which their own perceptions can mislead them. When a harmless phenomenon looks like a threatening object, it can negatively affect the condition of the pilot. Second, you need to know what terrestrial phenomena can affect military and civilian aircraft. Third, UFOs can be aircraft of unfriendly countries, invulnerable to existing air defense systems.
Finally, there is indeed a non-zero chance that UFOs are an entirely new type of phenomenon that could expand our understanding of the universe. However, this should not distract us from more realistic explanations. It should always be remembered that the alien origin of atmospheric phenomena must be proven, and not resort to this possibility when other options are supposedly exhausted.
Alexander Enikeev